Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, right, participates in an exercise at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif., last year. (AP Photo/DVIDS, Spc. Ryan Hallock)

(Newser)
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US Staff Sergeant Robert Bales has gaps in his memory of the night he's accused of killing 16 Afghan villagers, his lawyer says. "He has an early memory of that evening, and he has a later memory, but he doesn't have memory of the evening in between," John Henry Browne told CBS after a long meeting with his client. Bales told Browne he wasn't drunk that night, but "had a couple sips of something." Asked by AP whether Bales could remember the shooting spree, Browne said: "No," but added: "I haven't gotten that far with him yet."

More details have emerged about Bales' pre-military life, the Washington Post finds. Before Bales joined the Army in 2001, he worked as a financial advisor and was accused of stealing money from a client, records reveal. An arbitration panel found that Bales had "engaged in fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, unauthorized trading and unsuitable investments," and ordered him and his employer to pay $1.4 million in compensation and punitive damages. The client, a retired engineer, says he never received a penny of the award.

BULLSH/T. When some foreigner does this to us, they're terrorists eventhough we know they may have been brainwashed or forced into a deadly act, but we forgive our own. Now, apparently, Bales claims he doesn't remember the event. Now his lawyer is claiming he was under mental, financial and deployment pressure and we should feel sorry for him. No way, Jose. He's guilty of a heinous atrocity and should be tried in Afghanistan.

Spudsy

Mar 20, 2012 3:27 PM CDT

Thanks for the great soldier, Wall Street.

Motherchucker

Mar 20, 2012 10:54 AM CDT

What's next? He was abducted by aliens and was anally probed? Anyone could use this excuse now when they gun down people in America. Bad precedent to set..